The early history of the Ritter
Dental Company is a success story and centered around the life of the
Founder, Frank Ritter. In August of 1870 Frank Ritter, a cabinetmaker by
trade, came to New York City from his native Germany. The following year
after experiencing the heat of a New York summer to which he was
unaccustomed, he moved to Amsterdam, New York, where he continued to work
at his skill as a cabinetmaker. In 1872 with a friends suggestion, he
moved to Rochester where the climate was cooler and more like his native
Astheim, a small village in Wurzburg in Bavaria.

Frank Ritter was an
industrious and tireless worker. Remarks from his co-workers that he worked
too hard were not uncommon. His reply was, "If I did not work so hard and
save out of my earnings I would always just work at the bench".It was
not long before he was repaid for his thrifty and diligent habits. After
being in Rochester for only one year and just three years from the time he
first arrived in the United States, Frank started his own business. His
capital consisted entirely of what he had been able to save from his
earnings during these three years, a truly remarkable feat, even for those
days. Frank's early business was the production and sale of ornamental
carvings for parlor furniture. It was not long before he expanded into
manufacturing complete parlor furniture of high quality. His small factory,
located on the second floor of a building on River Street, was occupied on
the ground floor by an iron foundry.

By 1883 Frank was in a position to expand his
business by building a stone and brick building on the "Old River
Flats", below
the present Bausch & Lomb Company. The upholstering of the furniture, as well
as the offices and show rooms, remained uptown for the convenience of
buyers. First located in the Wallbridge Building at the corner of State and Elm Streets and
later, in 1886, at 107 Water Street. In 1887 Frank moved the upholstering shop
and offices to a new building which he had built on St. Paul Street, above the
factory on river flats and directly next door to his residence.

1887 Ritter Dental Co. on St. Paul
Street

By this
time Frank Ritter was very comfortably situated. In 1874 he had married and by
1887 had two daughters. In 1876 he had been formally given full privileges of
citizenship. His furniture business was a going concern which enjoyed an
enviable reputation in the trade for producing the highest quality of
merchandise. Under similar conditions other men would have sat back and coasted,
but not Frank Ritter. He was constantly looking for more work, for additional
things to make, for other business enterprises in which to invest a portion of
his profits.

1891 Ritter's personnel - first row, 9th from left is Dewell Stuck,
inventor of the first Dental Chair manufactured by the Ritter Company

In 1887 Dewell Stuck of Big Rapids, Michigan came to Rochester
with an idea for a new type of dental chair. After being turned down by a barber
chair manufacturer in Rochester, a mutual friend introduced Dewell Stuck to
Frank. The idea for this new dental chair was only on paper and there were many
details to be worked out before even starting production on an experimental
model. At this same time, Frank's furniture business was booming with production
in full swing. Not wanting to disrupt this profitable activity, Frank made
arrangements to start building the original experimental model dental chair in
the plant of the Graham Woodworking Machine Company located on Lyell Avenue. In
1888, after a series of trying delays and with the capital investment originally
made by Frank growing into a considerable sum of money, Frank's and Dewell's
thoughts were finally in agreement that the chair was sufficiently perfected to
begin manufacturing. With the Ritter Furniture Company still working at capacity
in the production of parlor furniture, Frank made arrangements with the Clark
Novelty Company, whose factory was located on Aqueduct Street, near the main
Four Corners in Rochester, to build his first 50 dental chairs.

1894 The Entire working force of both
Ritter factory and office

The original Stuck Dental Chair 1888

The original
Stuck Dental Chair as it was called, had a completely dry movement, no oil being
used whatsoever. Following the first 50 chairs, it was found that it would be
more practical for this movement to be modified so that the chair was raised
with a double clutch and lowered by means of an oil check.
The "Stuck Chair" was
a real improvement over the chairs which were on the market at that time. This
was the first chair to have a disc base, the other dental chairs of that day
being supported on four legs. After this modification was made, the first 50
chairs were shipped and were warmly received by the profession.

In August of
1889 Frank Ritter's original investment in this enterprise had grown to around
fifteen thousand dollars, a sizeable fortune for those days. The next model of the
"Stuck Chair" was manufactured in a corner of Frank's own furniture factory. By
so doing he was able to cut costs and also to be closer to both of his
endeavors. While his expectations were to build 100 more chairs similar to the
first 50, there developed patent difficulties with a chair made by Wilkerson,
that were considered serious enough to redesign the raising and lowering device.
It took the rest of 1889 to actually accomplish this development. There were 198 chairs of
this model produced, the last one being built early in 1891. Up to this
time, all chairs manufactured by Ritter had been called the "Stuck Dental
Chair". However, in 1890, experiments began on a new dental chair, which when
marketed in 1891 was called the "Celebrated Columbian Chair" and picked up the
nickname of the "Jacknife Chair". Two distinctive features on this chair were a
first. It was the first chair to use hydraulic pressure for the raising and
lowering mechanism. Secondly, it had the greatest range of any chair produced at
that time, as it raised higher and positioned lower than other on the
market. In all, 215 of the "Celebrated Columbian Chairs" were produced and
sold.

"Celebrated Columbian Chair" nickname
the "Jacknife Chair"

The last two Chairs of this model were encased in glass and sent to
Chicago for exhibition at the World's Fair of 1893. The fair was named the Grand
Columbian Carnival, for the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovering of
America. The two chairs were both elegantly finished, one in black with gold
plated metal parts and the other in white. ornately decorated with hand painted
flowers. They received the highest award at the Fair.

This marked the
beginning for the rapid growth of the Ritter Dental Company. To boost this
expansion, Frank and his small staff conceived a new theory they felt would be
successful. They immediately began working on a new chair engulfing many long
days with barely time off for sleep and food. Thus came into existence the "New
Columbia Chair". The first chair was finished toward the end of 1893 just in
time to also be exhibited in Chicago at the end of the World's Fair.

Ritter Dental exhibition at the World's Fair of 1893.

This newest
chair featured telescoping tubes for raising and lowering, it also had roller
bearings. As soon as it was exhibited, it was widely acclaimed, and it was this
chair which revolutionized the dental business and established the Ritter Dental
Company firmly as the leader in its field. Over 6,500 of these chairs were
manufactured and sold. Since the introduction of the "New Celebrated Columbia
Chair", the dental business had begun to take on greater proportions. Because of
the success of the new chair, Frank
began tapering off his furniture business. In 1895 the St. Paul Street factory
started to show growing pains, so the building was expanded and the furniture
business was completely discontinued.

1893 the New Columbia Chair

Tool Room 1901

In the year 1895, the Pieper Brothers,
Oscar and Alfonse - who later became vice president of the Ritter Dental
Company, came
from California and offered Frank the exclusive right to manufacture the
electric dental engine they had invented. This was actually not introduced on
the dental market until late in 1896 because of some additional improvements
that they wished to incorporate. As soon as it was introduced, it was
enthusiastically received. It eliminated the tiring and inconvenient foot pump
dental engine. The motor of the engine was suspended, allowing greater
flexibility than had never previously been known and at a greater range of speed
control with more power than any other competitive dental motor on the market at
that time. It was machined and balanced exceptionally well, thus making it
extremely quiet. The original dental engines operated from battery power. This
was only one of a series of electrical dental appliances and equipment to be
produced by the Ritter Dental Company. Other appliances were the electrical
dental laboratory lathe in 1897 and, in August of 1899, the first alternating
current dental engine with speed regulation was exhibited by the Ritter Dental Company at Niagara
Falls, NY. In each case success was immediate and formed the basis for a
further expansion of the Ritter Dental Company's line. In 1899 the Ritter Dental
Company added substantially to its St. Paul's street factory in order to enlarge
their new product lines as well as to expand their chair assembly and production
departments.

Shipping Department of 1902

Beginning in 1905 the opening
of the Chicago, IL sales office brought added services to the dental profession
throughout that region. But, it
was not just a sales office, or an address out of which salesmen worked. It was the
means to bring to dentists in that section of the country the
opportunity to learn of and inspect the facilities which were aiding eastern
dentists too far greater accomplishments. A service department was added, so
that the dentist would not be deprived of any repairs for their equipment if
needed. Similar offices were subsequently opened in New York City, Philadelphia
and San Francisco.

1900 Operatory

By 1908 the business had again grown to such large
proportions that the Ritter Dental Company was forced to move from its cramped quarters on St.
Paul Street to its new location on West Avenue.
In 1914 the electrically
operated air compressor was introduced and the Distributing Panel in 1915, which
incorporated electrical and air appliances necessary for a more modern dental
practice. In 1917 the Ritter Dental Company introduced the first Dental Operating Unit
- combining the services of air, water, gas and electricity in one compact
assembly, thus bringing together all operating essentials to the side of the
Ritter Chair.
Unfortunately, Frank Ritter passed away in
April, 1915, just two years before
the famous Dental Operating Unit was first introduced.

If you would like to contribute additional
history or product information regarding the Ritter Dental Company, please
e-mail Rick SchraderRick@RitterDental.com